Teperberg, Terra, Malbec 2009: Deep, almost black purple with plenty of crushed forest fruits and spicy oak on the nose, full-bodied with on the palate black and red currants as well as fresh and slightly sour bramble followed spicy vanilla and chocolate covered coffee beans lingering for quite a little while with silky tannins on the long finish. I liked this wine very much, a lot more than the first time I tasted it about a year ago, a good value. Btw the 2010 vintage I tasted at the Raanana festival last June is also very good. I was very happy that one of the participants at the table, my host' daughter who usually never drink wine decided to take a sip and said "wow! I really feel the forest fruits!" Brought back to my mind memories from my own first experiences a long time ago...

Shabbat Lunch:

Katlav, Wadi 2009: Hard for me to believe that I haven't posted yet about this wine which I've first tasted at Jerusalem festival and had since several times. A classic Bordeaux-blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot and 15% Petit Verdot aged for 24 months in French oak barrels, very similar to the Castel Grand Vin but with a much more distinctive Israeli character. Dark garnet towards purple with on the nose ripe, almost jammy blackberries, raspberries and toasty oak. Full-bodied with on the palate ripe blackberries, raspberries and currants followed by bittersweet chocolate, sweet cedar wood and soft tannins on a surprisingly short (relatively) finish. Just to be clear: I really like this wine a lot but the surprisingly short length of the finish is IMHO its clear downside.

Hafner, Late Harvest Chardonnay 2009: The leftover of the same bottle from 2 weeks ago and still drinking well.

Flam Blanc 2011 - The blend's proportions in this vintage are 58% Sauvignon Blanc to 42% Chardonnay. The nose is fresh with notes of citrus. The freshness and playfulness of this wine prevent it from being a serious winter white, as does its light body. But with the weather still quite warm in the Northeast, it was very enjoyable, and the bottle emptied in a flash. The palate is replete with grass and citrus, and with a touch of vanilla I consider surprising, given that it is unoaked. B/**

Dalton Petit Sirah 2009 - For those expecting their Petit Sirahs to have searing tannins, this wine should be called Petite Petit Sirah. It is a lovely easy drinking wine, that I would mistake for a plush syrah, with silky tannins that should not scare anyone away, not even on Halloween and wearing its label as a mask. The palate has wonderful red fruit, but even more noticable are the notes of leather and lavendar, overlayed with warm spices, such as cloves, nutmeg and cocoa. Although I liked it better than Recanati's rendition, I must still complain about the lack of acidity. The 14% AbV adds a touch of menthol, but is not distracting. B-/***

Hi Mark, hope all is well. Hope also that you didn't get that one from me, but sorry for your experience anyway. While clearly at their peak, those I had (Zvi Spigelman, yours was fine also, right?) a few months ago were still drinking great.

Well, Gabriel, I wasn't going to say it on the forum, but since you asked....um, well, yes, I actually did get the bottle from you. It is supposed to still be in a reasonable drinking window (Rogov listed it until 2013). It was stored properly, and I opened it before going to shul so it had been open for about 90 minutes before we tried it. Both my wife and I took one sip, made a face, and said "yuck." Just plain bad. Not much of a better way to describe it.

Oh, I apologize then! Well, that can happen too... The forum is not the place for these things normally but since we both made it public you already know the address for a compensation/refund. You are always more than welcome.

2007 Yarden Yonatan Syrah: A/** Still way too young to the point of being unapproachable. Much better the next day with the sweetness fading. Nose screamed with red fruit (sweet cherries, raspberries, red currant, plum), behind that some blackberry, vanilla, smoaky toasted oak, with subtle notes of peppermint and eucalyptus. Super-rich and meaty with silky mouthcoating tannins. Loads of semi-sweet chocolate and Mediterranean herbs on the mid-pallate. Super-long earthy finish redolent of a fine Havana cigar, with earthy and chocolaty notes. Needs a quite a few more years to come into its own.

2007 Yarden Pinot Noir: B+ to A-/*** Beginning to show its age--in a good way, as it's finally come around to showing its varietal. I'm afraid it won't last much longer though. Drink up.

2007 Carmel Mediterranean: A/** Delightful as always.

2010 Shirah Counterpunch: B+/** When first opened friday night, it was undrinkably sweet and plummy. Nose was dominated by white pepper and a pleasant barnyard funkiness. Totally out of balance. By Shabbos day it had settled down with lots of nice black and red fruit and strong spices emerging from behind the plummy first attack, and was rather enjoyable, although still a bit too sweet for my palate. Should improve with another year or so.

And of course the obligatory bottle of the object of my obsession: 2011 Flam Rose: A-/** Absolutely delicious--particularly in the heavy humidity we've been having.

Brought a 2007 Yarden Merlot to our Friday night hosts. They opened that, which was very nice, and then after the fish he brought out a bottle of Elijah Craig 18 - a very nice bourbon. However, since Elijah 18 has been discontinued, I asked him to put the Elijah 18 away and save it for a special occasion and please bring out the brand new bottle of Larceny bourbon that he had in clear view behind the front of his liquor cabinet. Ordinarily this might have seemed rude of me, but my host is family, I was asking for a lower grade bourbon than he was preparing to serve, and I also knew that he was unaware of the fact that the Elijah 18 was discontinued. The Larceny was rather good, too.

hi; Friday night was either off because of the bottle or the wine.hameshubach cab 09.Must interject though that the name itslf causes me to wince.By day lan zur carmenere,thinking that was the one Leiby got from Yehoshua and i was wrong he meant terra vega. well hopefully that one is better than this one.Here i feel confident its the wine .h

Gabe,Our Yarden Pinot Noir 2005 was fine 3 months ago but I knew then that it had peaked. If I had thought that it was no longer okay, I would have mentioned it the last time I was at your store. At the Jerusalem Wine Festival I asked a few people that I know at the GHW if the wine had peaked and they did not agree with me.

Harry J wrote:hi; Friday night was either off because of the bottle or the wine.hameshubach cab 09.Must interject though that the name itslf causes me to wince.By day lan zur carmenere,thinking that was the one Leiby got from Yehoshua and i was wrong he meant terra vega. well hopefully that one is better than this one.Here i feel confident its the wine .h